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1. X. [19]03

Dear comrade!

We have received your letter and both articles (the events in Finland and the first part about the congress of the Social-Democratic Party). Since information about the congress of the Finnish Social-Democratic Party has already been somewhat delayed in any case, the article about it will be published in No. 49 of *Iskra*, which will come out no later than October 15 New Style.² The article on the events in Finland, however, will have to be postponed, and I am therefore returning it to you so that you can refresh it with new material for No. 50 (at the latest — for No. 51) of *Iskra*.³ The second half of this article, pp. 3–4, I think could be omitted, and the beginning altered for continuity with the new conclusion.

As regards the article on the congress, it would be desirable to have its continuation sooner.⁴ Further, it is necessary to dwell in greater detail on the question you have raised concerning the "reckless expressions" of the Finnish Social-Democrats at their congress about the Finnish Diet.⁵ This is the most important question of principle and it must be explained fully. As far as I understand, is a portion of the workers prepared to withdraw from the bourgeois Finnish struggle for a bourgeois Finnish constitution? If so, then *Iskra* must explain this question from the point of view of Marxism, showing the necessity for the Social-Democratic Party to support even the bourgeois struggle for freedom, without in any way identifying itself with the bourgeoisie and without concealing its socialist aims. We shall have to insert a note on this theme. Or perhaps you could manage to send the continuation by October 6 at least? It is also necessary to provide the text of the resolution concerning the recognition by the Finnish workers' party of the Social-Democratic programme in its entirety, for the part of the programme you have translated is only a minimum programme, which in itself is not at all Social-Democratic. If this is a matter of censorship, then we must note this once more.

We would be very grateful to you for an article for *Zarya*.⁶ The deadline is approximately November 15. The time of publication of No. 5 of *Zarya* is still unknown; part of the articles are being set in type.⁶

A pamphlet on the "Finnish catastrophe" would be very much needed, especially a popular pamphlet, not very long, but thoroughly recounting the entire course of the struggle. We would distribute such a pamphlet widely among the masses. In my view, it is worth writing about the first period of the struggle, up to the present summer. We shall write about what comes later separately in due course.⁷

In conclusion, I cannot but express to you, dear comrade, the gratitude of the *Iskra* editorial board for your regular collaboration. It is of the utmost importance and value to us to inform the Russian working class correctly about events in Finland and thus to prepare, gradually and systematically, the drawing together and fusion of the Russian and Finnish Social-Democratic working-class parties.

With Social-Democratic greetings

On behalf of the *Iskra* editorial board
N. Lenin
(V. Ulyanov)

P.S. Here is the address through which, from abroad, you could address the editorial board directly and send articles:

Mr. Vladimir Oulianoff
10. Chemin privé du Foyer. 10.
Sécheron. Genève. Suisse.

I have already notified the office regarding the proper sending of *Iskra* to you.

We are counting, therefore, as before on your correspondence for each issue of *Iskra*, i.e., it is desirable by the 7th and 21st of each month (New Style), no later. It is also desirable that the manuscript be written as legibly as possible (double-spaced, with wide margins, in addition to being on one side of the sheet only), because we have no time for copying it out cleanly, and corrections to the style are necessary.

¹ V. M. Smirnov (Paulson, Paulssen) — party member since 1900. Carrying out assignments from the Petersburg Committee of the RSDLP, he was engaged in transporting illegal literature from abroad through Sweden to Finland. From 1903 he lived permanently in Helsingfors, his apartment serving as an illegal party safe house. In 1905–1907 V. I. Lenin stayed with him. In 1917 and early 1918 he collaborated in Bolshevik newspapers *Volna* and *Priboi*, published in Helsingfors. From the end of 1918 he worked in Soviet and diplomatic service.

The letter was found in 1975 by TASS correspondent in Finland Yu. F. Dashkov.

² V. M. Smirnov's article "The Regular Congress of the Finnish Social-Democratic Party" was published in No. 49 of *Iskra* on October 1, 1903.

The II Congress took place from August 17–20, 1903 in the town of Forssa. It was attended by 96 representatives from 48 workers' unions. The Congress adopted the party programme, its name — the Social-Democratic Party of Finland — and elected a Central Party Board.

V. M. Smirnov's article "Events in Finland" was published in No. 50 of *Iskra* on October 15, 1903.

⁴ The continuation of V. M. Smirnov's article on the congress of the Social-Democratic Party of Finland was not published in *Iskra*.

⁵ V. I. Lenin has in mind that passage from V. M. Smirnov's article "The Regular Congress of the Finnish Social-Democratic Party" where it was stated that the authors of the resolution on electoral rights adopted by the Congress allowed in their criticism "several reckless expressions" directed at the Diet.

⁶ *Zarya* — a Marxist scientific and political journal, published in 1901–1902 in Stuttgart by the editorial board of *Iskra*. A total of four issues (three volumes) appeared.

⁷ This refers to the law of the tsarist government on military service, which provoked unrest in Finland.